Star Wars: A New Hope was the first of the Star Wars films to be produced, although it is actually the fourth story in the movies' continuity. It tells how Luke Skywalker came to join the Rebellion against the Empire and destroy the first Death Star.

ANH had the lowest budget of the Star Wars films, and the 2nd highest grossing next to The Phantom Menace (though in comparison to its budget, ANH had a much greater profit). The film is also famous/infamous for being one of the movies generally hailed as a classic that was almost never released because of all the issues in its production, which were so stressful for George Lucas that it gave him heart problems.

ANH is important in the versus community because it establishes benchmarks for the Empire's industrial capacity as well as technologies for power generation, starship propulsion, construction, and weaponry. In particularly, the Death Star itself demonstrates the capabilities of Imperial technology by obliterating the planet Alderaan in less than a second.